Letter: Un-Christian, un-American

Un-Christian, un-American

Editor:

Tea Party Republicans in Congress are refusing to extend long-term unemployment benefits ("GOP seeks changes on jobless measure to offset price tag," Reading Eagle, Jan. 9). Living on what CNN said is the national average benefit of $300 a week is tough. How do you live on zero?

Are the Tea Partiers so blinded by ideology that they don't realize the loss of unemployment benefits shrinks the economy even more? The Economic Policy Institute said the cutoff will lower GDP because the unemployed will have less money to spend, causing 310,000 additional job losses.

Harvard economist Lawrence Katz said $1 billion in economic activity was lost in just the first week.

When 262,000 long-term unemployed Pennsylvanians are losing benefits, it is incredibly arrogant for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to say benefits are a narcotic that lulls people into joblessness.

John Cassidy in The New Yorker said careful studies fail to show evidence that long periods of unemployment benefits will encourage the jobless to remain unemployed. Instead, marriages and health break down and suicides increase.

We used to wage war on poverty, now congressional Republicans are waging war on poor people. Belittling and being condescending to people cast out of work through no fault of their own is un-Christian and un-American.